Brian A

Brian A

U.S. District Court Judge Todd Campbell has ruled against an advocacy group asking the court to block a new Tennessee law it claims unfairly pressures judges to keep children out of foster care. The decision comes following a hearing in a lawsuit filed by Children's Rights Inc. (“CRI”), a New York-based nonprofit that sued the Department of Children's Services over issues of children’s care in State custody; the State entered a settlement agreement with CRI in 2001. Attorneys for CRI argued that a new state law placing a cap on the number of children in a particular county for whom DCS will pay for foster care violates the settlement agreement in the case. Judge Campbell rejected the argument and ruled in favor of the State’s argument that the group has no standing to make their claims in the Court. The new law known as the “over-commitment statute” calls for the county to pick up the tab for children’s care whenever judges commit more children to state care than the state-mandated limit.